The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Numerous efforts have been made to improve fermentation technologies. For example: U.S. Pat. No. 8,110,667 to Zhang, U.S. Pat. No. 8,324,374 to Kawasaki, U.S. Pat. No. 8,324,376 to Binder, U.S. Pat. No. 8,314,231 to Baures, U.S. Pat. No. 8,062,428 to Blair and U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,364 to Dhooge; and U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2010/01112242 to Medoff, 2012/0232264 to Sato and 2011/0130561 to Miyashita have each apparently attempted to produce ethanol from sugars derived by cellulose waste. Unfortunately, little cellulosic ethanol production capacity exists today, and as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,419,788 and 4,461,648, microorganisms and enzymes cannot effectively attack cellulose without prior treatment because of the complex chemical structure of lignocellulosic material.
These and all other publications disclosed herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
As another example, some have attempted to increase fermentation rates via techniques such as biostimulation (see e.g., Electromagnetic Biostimulation of Living Cultures for Biotechnology, Biofuel and Bioenergy Applications, by Ryan W. Hunt et al., Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10, 4515-4558; doi:10.3390/ijms10104515.). Unfortunately, known efforts have apparently failed to increase fermentation rates by more than a modest amount, and have failed to teach, suggest or motivate an apparatus, system or method of bioelectromagnetic stimulation of microbes for production of biofuels or bioenergy on a commercial scale.
Thus, there is still a need for improved apparatus, systems and methods of (1) digesting cellulosic materials that obviate the need for harsh chemicals, high temperatures and high pressures, and (2) biostimulation of microorganisms to increase their fermentation rates for production of bioenergy.